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Olivier’s vitriolic stage whispers

HE WAS hailed as one of Hollywood’s greatest actors but Laurence Olivier was
less generous towards his fellow stars. The British actor-director launched
a string of vitriolic attacks on other actors in tape recordings that will
soon be revealed in a new biography.

Olivier called Joan Fontaine, his co-star in Rebecca, “loathsome”, and
described Merle Oberon, who appeared with him in Wuthering Heights, as “a
silly little amateur”. He was vicious about Peter O’Toole’s stage
performance of Hamlet and gave details about his bitter rivalry with Ralph
Richardson and John Gielgud.